What Is Morphology?Morphology or face reading is the most ancient western diagnostic system for self knowledge and healing. Our face and body shape reveal our in-born temperament (what we come into the world with) our personality (the interface between what the world imposes on us and our response) and our character (qualities and traits that we inscribe in ourselves by which we make our mark on the world). Our unique physical and physiological predispositions and needs are revealed as well. For example, morphology can reveal what diet, supplements, and exercise suit you.

The roots of this art and science are found in both the monotheistic and Egyptian pharaonic tradition. It was supplemented by the ancient Greeks through the four humors, and remained the major diagnostic system of the West up until the middle of the Renaissance when it was submerged by the development of the natural sciences. Morphology is still taught in the French medical school curriculum. It correlates with embryological development and anatomical laws.

The face – and the body – represents the external revelatory⁄visionary form, which reflects what is happening in your inner being on a physical, emotional, mental, social, and moral level. Not only did this sacred practice, known as the sacred science of the west, provide information for purposes of therapeutic interventions for healing, but also showed each individual his own unique way to truth; as no two faces on the earth are the same. You are your own unique, incomparable, individual (meaning undivided) self reflected in your face.

In spiritual terms, then, the effects of morphological investigation is to elevate the uniqueness of each human being, and grant him⁄her an authenticity and genuineness of being that is sorely lacking in medicine and in psychology and psychiatry today. Everyone is appreciated, not depreciated by being labeled or found to be wrong, bad, or abnormal.

It removes all guilt feelings since a person always acts naturally for his or her type. The concern of the morphologist is whether a person is acting disproportionately with respect to a certain characteristic. Acting according to one's type = no guilt.

It removes all man–made standards of right–wrong, good–bad. One is incomparable. There is no other face like yours anywhere.

It de–stigmatizes the individual by removing the need to name people according to a nomenclature based on an artificial standard of normal and abnormal.

It removes the clinician from the ranks of being an arbiter of another person's reality, and therefore a judge of another human being, which no human being has the right to do. In using morphology, we are working against the will to power, not seeking to subjugate or to dominate.

Book A ConsultationMorphological consultations for individuals, couples and businesses help people understand each other through what their faces say. In my experience over 30 years I've helped couples and groups change their enmity to amity.Morphology can also help a person to find an appropriate mate/partner or discover if a current relationship is compatible or not. If not, we work to reduce the friction. Remember, we turn enmity to amity.

Morphology and Public figures: It is important for us to know qualities and characteristics of anyone in public life, no matter what their field of endeavor because of their influence(s) and effects on our lives. Knowing such characteristics doesn’t speak to their entirety of being, but more to behavioral traits. For example, Glen Beck has been caught in many a lie. Possessing a rectangular face shape, he lies for the expediency of the moment. It does not mean that he lies 24/7. What a person is and his/her behavioral traits are not the same. To label someone “a liar” condemns one’s soul. To do so would be unfair. To say someone acts as a liar at particular times is not condemnatory of this person’s soul. After all, “let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.” What you are and what you do are not to be equated. Be careful what you call someone. We don’t want to engage in condemning souls.

Remember, morphology is a denotative, descriptive science, not a connotative, opinionated one. It speaks to what is (as all of spiritual science does), without drawing conclusions or having pre-existing agendas. It presents the information expressed in the face (and body), leaving you to “take it for what it’s worth,” in any way you so choose.

Morphology Blog: Master Your Metabolism

I noticed an ad for a diet book in the New York Times by an author Jillian Michaels called Master Your Metabolism. In this book Ms. Michaels promises to reveal three secrets to permit you to control your metabolism so that you gain control over your body (and presumably your weight). Credit has to go to the author for being able to produce a published book that is on the Times best seller list for five months.

What’s of interest to me about the advent of this book is that it got me to reflect on the plethora (or is it myriad, or tons) of books on diet and nutrition year after year, decade after decade. It seemed to me that like the old Greek adage: "he who has many friends has no friends," so where there are so many books there are no books (by analogy). If one is to work for all there need only be one book.

This brings me to your face. This system defines a specificity of diet, nutrition, and exercise for each of the morphological (facial) types. This goes to say there can’t be one way pertaining to everyone. Everyone is unique and an undivided whole = individual. There cannot be a homogenized (no pun intended maybe there was) sameness applying to everyone. Examples:

Bilious temperament = Eat any food in small amounts. Stay away from sharp spices, drink little. Oxygen is their real food. Need to eat so as to be able to sleep. Need only four–five hours of sleep a night. No coffee.

Sanguine temperament = Eat three square meals a day. High in protein – especially meat – and potatoes and complex carbohydrates. Needs little vegetables and fruit. Moderate fluid intake. Wine or beer at meals only as a digestive. Can take lots of water (the ones who can absorb the eight glasses of eight ounces of water a day. None of the other types can come close to fulfilling this misguided medical standard). Need to nap for 30–40 minutes during middle of the day. Can have sugar.

Nervous temperament= Eat six to eight small meals a day. Must eat when hungry. Vegetarian diet is ideal. Can east a little meat, poultry and fish. Needs little liquid. Has shortest digestive tract of all types. The foods have to be easily assimilable. Can go to sleep as soon as head hits pillow. Needs eight hours. Needs little sugar and no coffee.

Lymphatic temperament = Has longest digestive tract of all types. Can, therefore, eat all and any often in large quantities. Can digest meat and dairy easily. Has to be careful about two things: (1) gluttony and (2) taking in fluids. Tends to drink too much fluid, which increases weight preponderantly. Needs to eat to feel comfortable and to get to work. Likes to sleep long hours and as such likes to have coffee to keep him/her awake. When awake well organized and gets things done well and orderly. Enjoys sweets; they give energy (careful about overdoing).

The moral of the story (albeit it a short one here of a much longer version) – One size does not fit all. Never does, never will.

MORPHOLOGY BLOG: READING FEATURES 101

Chin Cleft or Dimple: Did you know that a cleft in the chin has two main meanings: 1) narcissism, or self–absorption; and 2) duplicity? One or the other is operating, sometimes both. At any rate, people with this feature are commonly – male or female – quite good looking, e.g., Ava Gardner, Kirk Douglas. Be careful to distinguish a cleft from a dimple in the chin, which is round with an indentation in the center. This means you are searching for harmony in life, or striving to create a harmonious life or harmonious relationships.

Double Chin: Did you know that there is a pouch that develops under the chin called the dewlap? It’s perceived as a cosmetic horror, especially to women, who run to cosmetic surgeons to do something about it. Now, the dewlap is a storage bank for energy and endurance. The lymphatic temperament characteristically develops one and that is definitely a benefit to them, male or female: note Julia Child, who was a powerhouse. The last thing you lymphatics want to do is lose your dewlap. For you, being on the portly side (where the dewlap manifests) is a plus and contributor to overall health. For all you other temperamental types you can lose your dewlap with impunity because you have other storage areas of strength, power and vitality. Note: portly is not obese, but rather on the stout side.

Ears: Did you know that ears located away from the skull mean independence?

Eye Color: Did you know that green eyes have the meaning of wanting to keep distance? People with this eye color can be quite sociable but don’t need intimacy (there goes your intimacy specialists). They can establish close contact with one or two select friends (maybe three). Unfortunately, they are often viewed as haughty or aloof. This is not at all the case and they are certainly not schizoid.

Eyebrow: Did you know that eyebrows extending beyond the orbit of the eye, i.e., extending straight across, reflect difficulty in sustaining and maintaining a relationship? The remedy: trim them back to the level of the orbital bone. Watch your relationships shift. There is an eyebrow craze going on here in New York (maybe it’s happening elsewhere). There are eyebrow parlors charging large fees to clip, trim, shape, and otherwise diddle with them. I give a mini–course on the meaning of eyebrows. There is a good deal to know. Here I can mention two caveats:

Don’t cut away eyebrow hair. The eyebrow means strength and stamina.

One exception: If your eyebrows go straight across from one eye to the next without a break, make sure you cut away the hair above the bridge of the nose to create a break between them. Otherwise you will continue to have difficulties in your relationships.

Eyebrows & Hypothyrodism: Did you know that the absence of the outer one–third of the eyebrow denotes thyroid imbalance – most likely hypothyroidism?

Head Hair: Did you know that a women needs to coif her hair, so it does not spread in all directions? Because hair acts as an antenna, when it is unruly and goes in many directions at once, it receives static from the external environment which reflects inwardly as confusion – particularly with regard to social relationships.

Lips: Diid you know that the upper lip is the social lip, while the lower one reflects our biological functions, particularly the intestinal tract and prostate in men.

A protruding lower lip jutting out beyond the upper one on profile view has the meaning of sadistic tendencies.

A thin upper lip, going straight across the mouth, reflects a mean, tough nature that can bleed over into cruelty and callousness that can lead to heartlessness. Such a person with this lip can be given to cursing and mean-spirited remarks. By lip, here I mean the fleshy part (not the muscle part above or below those fleshy areas). Michael Bloomberg and George Bush, Jr. have this type of lip.

Teeth: Did you know that a person having a natural gap between the two front teeth means he ⁄ she does not feel bound to ⁄ by conventional mores? They are of the maverick type when it comes to such matters. I would advise parents having such a child not to close the gap unless you want him/her to become part of the herd, just a conventional Joe or Jane.

Did you know that long canine teeth (the third tooth over from the center in the upper jaw) that are disproportionately longer than the other teeth reflect having difficulty in establishing a stable and ⁄ or long–lasting relationship. The remedy: Have your dentist file them down to come into proportion with the other teeth. And, watch your relationships come into order.

Canine teeth that are disproportionately long compared to the surrounding molars and incisors reflect a predatory impulse. The canines tear apart flesh (dogs are called “canines”) and have an impact on male-female relationships. Be careful if your intended boyfriend or girlfriend has such teeth. If you want the relationship to mature in your favor, ask the prospective partner to have those teeth ground down to a proportionate relationship to the other teeth, and make them rounded! Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, has such teeth.